The name "Gaia" has been popularised by James Lovelock, the propounder of the "Gaia Hypothesis". This is the theory that the entire Earth is a single living superorganism, the various components
of which - organic and norganic - interact in such a way as to maintain
an environment in which life can exist.

Acknowledging this insight, and building upon it by drawing from the ideas of Sri Aurobindo, Teilhard de Chardin, Rudolph Steiner, popular Neo-Paganism, and others, our understanding of Gaia becomes even more multi-faceted, an integration of science and metaphysics